The pitching is all that keeps my Padres alive. The front office has no commitment to the fans. They don’t want October baseball in San Diego, not if it costs them more money to field a better offense.

The “Padre” way is to get a few good arms at a bargain, and roll the dice with questionable offensive talent that every 7 years MIGHT get you a wild card birth, or even a division. But of course that’s only if they all happen to peak the same year. I’m so sick of this pattern since I was a kid. It’s Flea-Market talent strategy. AND, if they do find a steal of a deal… they flip the talent back onto the market for a profit after 1-2 years, just in time for OTHER teams to make a run for October.

Every. Single. Year. “Welcome to San Diego, home of the NL’s FUTURE all-stars, AFTER we trade them away.”

I can always tell a bad season is coming when even the management of Padres baseball call it “… a rebuilding year.” Padre fans already know EVERY year is a rebuilding year. So, when they feel the need to remind us of that, we can take odds on it being a .350 or .400 year. At least when they say, “We’ll make a run for October,” we MIGHT have a .500 club that season.

Bless Buddy Black for doing so much with what that front office gives him every year.

With that being said, I’ll be making the drive from Phoenix to Petco Park on Thursday June 26th to say goodbye to Mr. Padre, Tony Gwynn, at 19:19 hours.

The front office could learn a lot about work ethic, and commitment to being the best by watching Tony’s old interviews, and instructional videos.

]]>By: don444http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2014/06/22/padres-fire-general-manager-josh-byrnes/#comment-726801
Mon, 23 Jun 2014 06:59:44 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=526443#comment-726801Sorry moron, you missed badly.
]]>By: dan1111http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2014/06/22/padres-fire-general-manager-josh-byrnes/#comment-726798
Mon, 23 Jun 2014 05:51:51 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=526443#comment-726798It’s a highly competitive business with a thin margin for error (especially for small market teams). Some teams have to lose, even if all 30 are well-run.

I don’t think Byrnes was so terrible. He made some questionable moves, but there was a lot of bad luck involved, as well.

]]>By: gloccamorrahttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2014/06/22/padres-fire-general-manager-josh-byrnes/#comment-726780
Mon, 23 Jun 2014 04:23:00 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=526443#comment-726780You may be right, but I’d think he’s the prime candidate for manager if Black gets the heave-ho after his end-of-the-season guarantee runs out. Black is contracted for next year, but that’s not worth much – they just ate 2-1/2 years of Byrnes’ contract.
]]>By: jwbiiihttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2014/06/22/padres-fire-general-manager-josh-byrnes/#comment-726760
Mon, 23 Jun 2014 03:05:41 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=526443#comment-726760The Padres play in an extreme pitchers’ park. A good Padres team will have mediocre raw offense numbers, a lousy one will have decent pitching numbers.
]]>By: jwbiiihttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2014/06/22/padres-fire-general-manager-josh-byrnes/#comment-726757
Mon, 23 Jun 2014 02:58:43 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=526443#comment-726757Some might suggest that Andrew Cashner has been pretty darn good. In any case, if another team wants him, and plenty would, he’ll cost significantly more than the waiver wire price ($25k), don’t you think?
]]>By: wahoo21http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2014/06/22/padres-fire-general-manager-josh-byrnes/#comment-726753
Mon, 23 Jun 2014 02:24:47 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=526443#comment-726753Its about time they canned byrnes….he was terrible and he is the one that gave bud black that mess of a roster. Now if they would get rid of plantier and powell and hire a real hitting coach they might be headed in the right direction.

The name I would expect to hear as a dark horse is Mark Loretta….mark my words….he will be a GM in the major leagues.

]]>By: navyeoddavee9http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2014/06/22/padres-fire-general-manager-josh-byrnes/#comment-726749
Mon, 23 Jun 2014 01:56:57 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=526443#comment-726749Rumor is Padres are eying Towers, to return, if so, just one big circle, makes no sense
]]>By: gbrimhttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2014/06/22/padres-fire-general-manager-josh-byrnes/#comment-726748
Mon, 23 Jun 2014 01:52:39 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=526443#comment-726748USA Today columnist Nightengale says the Padres have Kevin Towers on their radar to bring back. As a DBacks fan, I am hoping it happens. If I was a Padres fan I would probably cancel my season tickets and burn my Padres gear if that were to come to pass. What in Towers’ tenure in Arizona makes them think he is good at developing a small market team? Not to mention his last few years in SD. Nice guy, probably would be a good neighbor. Never would want him as a general manager again… Ever…..
]]>By: icanspeelhttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2014/06/22/padres-fire-general-manager-josh-byrnes/#comment-726744
Mon, 23 Jun 2014 01:30:33 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=526443#comment-726744Exactly, and another funny stat for the Padres is they are 24-4 when they score 4 runs or more.. Pitching would hold it down with some support.
]]>By: gloccamorrahttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2014/06/22/padres-fire-general-manager-josh-byrnes/#comment-726742
Mon, 23 Jun 2014 01:24:58 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=526443#comment-726742Lots of people thought it was a dark horse team, due to the pitching and defense. Your “awful from top to bottom” assessment is way off. The pitching staff is 8th of 30 teams, and the bullpen has the second lowest ERA in the majors. The defense has been slightly above league average, but the hitters, though, have a track record, and the performance this year of key players is inexplicably far below their norms.

They’ve scored nearly 60 fewer runs than the Mets! If they scored the same number of runs as the Mets (25th of 30 teams), they’d be a .500 team instead of 12 games under. If they just scored the National League average, their record would be 40-36, 5-1/2 games behind the Giants, only 1 game out of the wildcard. Good pitching will make a team competitive, but it has to score runs.

]]>By: Balladeerhttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2014/06/22/padres-fire-general-manager-josh-byrnes/#comment-726741
Mon, 23 Jun 2014 01:24:21 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=526443#comment-726741Lay off the sauce, bro.
]]>By: Balladeerhttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2014/06/22/padres-fire-general-manager-josh-byrnes/#comment-726740
Mon, 23 Jun 2014 01:21:42 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=526443#comment-726740This is such a dumb comment on so many levels.
]]>By: gloccamorrahttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2014/06/22/padres-fire-general-manager-josh-byrnes/#comment-726735
Mon, 23 Jun 2014 00:58:29 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=526443#comment-726735Do. Not. Be. Alarmed. Minaya was a Jeff Moorad hire, just before MLB refused to approve Moorad as majority owner. The trio is just a place holder group until the new majority owners, the O’Malley family, place their guy. Minaya and Hinch (another Moorad pick from Arizona) might be gone themselves soon after a new GM takes over.
]]>By: gloccamorrahttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2014/06/22/padres-fire-general-manager-josh-byrnes/#comment-726732
Mon, 23 Jun 2014 00:52:02 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=526443#comment-726732I smell a conspiracy! But Byrnes was part of the Boston Mafia too, along with CEO Mike Dee, a Larry Lucchino protege. The entangling alliances must be more complicated!
]]>By: gloccamorrahttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2014/06/22/padres-fire-general-manager-josh-byrnes/#comment-726730
Mon, 23 Jun 2014 00:45:14 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=526443#comment-726730Minaya will be one of three, temporarily. There probably won’t be much trading until the off-season, after they’ve gotten a permanent GM. Trading your closer (Street), 3B (Headley), and the two most productive OF (Smith & Denorfia) before the new guy takes over is beyond dumb, and the new owners are not dumb.

Forget Fowler and Dee, the O’Malley family is majority owner, with former Dodgers owner Peter O’Malley as dad, uncle and mentor, with a lot of baseball contacts and relationships to draw on. They probably already have somebody lined up more to their liking than Byrnes, a Jeff Moorad hire, but will wait a decent interval before making an announcement.

]]>By: smoothaswilkeshttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2014/06/22/padres-fire-general-manager-josh-byrnes/#comment-726729
Mon, 23 Jun 2014 00:28:53 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=526443#comment-726729this
]]>By: xpensivewinoshttp://mlb.nbcsports.com/2014/06/22/padres-fire-general-manager-josh-byrnes/#comment-726728
Mon, 23 Jun 2014 00:26:50 +0000http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=526443#comment-726728First off, who in their right mind thought this team was going to compete? If the Padres themselves really believe that, they’re even more delusional than I gave them credit for.

This team is awful from top to bottom and the results are exactly what anyone in their right mind expected. Even if the offense was a little better, they’re still brutal. The entire team is nothing but a collection of crap.

Seriously, did anyone really think these guys would be doing anything other than battling with Arizona to see who finished last in the NL West?